


The Landlord

by Mattricole



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor, Romance, modern day AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2020-03-05 16:13:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18832126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattricole/pseuds/Mattricole
Summary: She used to be the heiress to the biggest coal company in the world. She used to be the top student at Beacon University. She used to be a famous opera singer. Now, she was just a landlord, and funny enough, she wouldn't have it any other way.





	1. Chapter 1

It was that time of the month again for Weiss. With a dejected groan of displeasure, she tore herself away from her cheap mattress, her eyes trailing across her shitty apartment before stopping at her bathroom.

“Fuck it,” she muttered. What was even the point of cleaning herself up and powdering her nose anymore? It wasn’t like she had anyone to please, and the only people who would care could drop off the face of the planet for all she cared.

With that pleasant thought in mind, she shed off her sleepwear and looked thoroughly through her wardrobe. Lined within were some of the most expensive dresses one could own, all of them far above the budget for one in her position.

Ten years ago she would have deliberated between which dress to wear, but now she ignored all of them in favor of her new favored ensemble of green shorts, an old t-shirt pictured with a corgi playing on it, and an even older bathrobe she got dirt cheap at a store that quite frankly should have closed down by now.

Making a show of checking herself in the mirror, out of habit more so than actually caring, she took a deep breath as she headed towards her front door, before realizing something important, the actual reason she was heading out.

“I have to deal with her,” she muttered with an inhuman growl before marching into her kitchen. Grabbing a somewhat clean coffee mug off her table and heading towards her sink she turned her faucet on, waiting a minute until steam began wafting from her sink. Filling her glass she turned her faucet off before filling her mug with instant coffee.

With a half-hearted smile, she grabbed her purse and returned to her front door, slipping into her bunny slippers and headed out the door. She quickly rushed through the hallway, not even bothering to carefully drink her blazing hot coffee, choosing instead to guzzle it down like a wild animal.

With ten big steps, she made it to her destination, and with a large gulp of coffee, she loudly knocked on the door.

“Open up, Yang! Rent was due last week and you said you’d have it first thing in the morn-”

The door quickly opened up, and only now did Weiss realize her mistake. Yang works at nights and is asleep eight o’ clock. Weiss woke up at ten. There was absolutely no way for Yang to answer her door with how much of a deep sleeper she was, and because of that-

“Hey, Weiss! How’s it-whoa,” Yang’s cute, bubbly little sister and roommate was the one to answer the door. “That’s such a cute shirt! Where can I get one?!” The sister that Weiss currently crushing on. “...Weiss, you okay?”

“...Rent please,” she whispered, lowering her face so Ruby couldn’t see her embarrassed blush.

“Oh, right, doy!” with an embarrassed and adorable smile Ruby quickly rushed off before returning with her purse, handing out a wad of lien. “The late fee, it’s...fifty lien per week, right-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Weiss quickly took the cash, pushing the extra lien back into Ruby’s strong, yet gentle arms. "I need to go, room needs cleaning!” and she quickly ran off, barely registering Ruby’s heartfelt thank you’s.

Rushing into her home she slammed her door, locked it and dropped all of her things, jumping into her bed and screaming into her pillow.

‘Why couldn’t I have worn my good dress today?! Now she thinks I’m a slob!!!’ And with that embarrassing thought in mind, she sat up and chose to do the one thing that could cheer her up. “...Time for some Princess Bride and vanilla pudding.”

The day could still be saved at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's see if I can make this drabble series work this time. This seemed like a funny idea to me, so hopefully, ya'll like it.


	2. Chapter 2

“Just how many of these corgi shirts do I own?” Weiss let out a disgruntled groan as she tossed another corgi shirt into her laundry bag. “I really need to expand my wardrobe,” she muttered, looking through her clean clothes before picking up a plain white dress. After a moment of deliberation, she returned it in favor of a blue, shoulderless dress, slipping into it with a grimace. She so badly wanted to try on her new shirt with a corgi in a baseball shirt and bat in its mouth, but alas, she had to dress to impress.

Slipping on her bolero jacket and high heels she picked up her bag of dirty laundry and left her apartment, making her way down the stairs that led to the bottom floor. She was reminded of how glad she was when she purchased this apartment complex with the money she made from her short opera career as the sound of clothes being rinsed and dried became louder and louder.

“Still think using these should be free!” a certain, annoying tenant yelled out.

“Still think you should pay rent on time!” she shot back, though she couldn’t help but grin ear to ear at the complaint of one Yang Xiao Long. 

“Oof, low blow boss,” she found Yang by one of the dryers, carefully putting in several quarters. “You’d think you’d be more grateful. Here I am, day after day trying to hook you up with my sister and this is the thanks I get?” And instantly Weiss’s jovial smile was no more, now replaced with a grimace and a darkening skin tone.

“I-I-How dare you imply-Don’t make me double your rent!” 

“Please don’t!” Pushing past and ignoring the now pleading oaf she went to her own personal washer and dryer. Devoid of any coin slots this one instead sported a number pad, needing a password and fingerprint scan in order to operate. Another luxury that came from her opera career.

“...Where is your sister? She’s the one who usually does laundry.”

“Aha, so you were looking for her,” Weiss knew glaring at Yang wouldn’t stop the oaf from grinning like an idiot, but that didn’t stop her from trying. “She’s at Nora’s place, air conditioner stopped working so Rubes is gonna repair it for twenty lien.”

“Twenty lien?” Weiss scoffed as she finished emptying her laundry into the washer. “Most repairmen would charge in the hundreds easily, and Ruby’s far better than any of them.”

“Aw, it’s so cute how you so readily compliment your girlfriend!”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” she yelled, slamming the washer shut and turning it on. “...B-but she is single, right?” she couldn’t help but ask quietly, her voice almost being drowned out by the machines going off around them.

“My god, just ask her out already,” Yang muttered with a shake of her head. “Not really a fan of “will they won’t they” drama. ‘Sides, reasonably certain she’d say yes.”

Weiss didn’t have anything to say to that, debating whether she should stick around until her laundry was done and risk being teased by Yang or leave and come back, risking having her corgi shirts being stolen by some rapscallion. 

“Hey, Yang, I’m done!” A beautiful voice rang out, filling Weiss with joy momentarily before filling her with complete dread. “You can go ahead and go to sleep, I’ll finish up the laun-Hey, is that Weiss?!”

‘I’m not ready!’ She had come here with the intent of speaking with Ruby, but now that she had the opportunity she found herself too nervous to actually speak. ‘Why, oh why did I not practice more?!’

“How’s it going, boss?” Ruby ran up to her with an adorable smile that could melt the soul of anyone who saw it.

“...Fine, and you don’t have to call me that,” she muttered, her eyes staying fixed on her laundry machine.

“I know, just kinda feels right, since you always commission me to fix anything wrong with the place,” from the corner of her eye she saw Ruby scratching the back of her head nervously. “Grateful about that, by the way. Got another rejection the other day. Guess people feel nervous about hiring someone who blew up a washing machine in college.”

“Then they’re fools,” Weiss found herself saying involuntarily. “No repairmen I’ve hired has done anywhere near as good a job as you. You blowing up a washing machine was just…” she paused, the words finally sinking in. “...How did you manage to do that?” she asked incredulously, earning a heavenly giggle from the girl in front of her.

“I didn’t, I just wanted to see how you’d react,” she said, sticking her tongue out in a silly (and sexy) way. “...But thanks, I’m glad you’re satisfied with the job I’ve been doing!”

“...Thank you for always being available short notice,” she muttered, the ding on her washer going off indicating it was done. “Excuse me for a moment,” she opened the washer, pulling her wet clothes out and stashing them into the dryer quickly, hoping that Ruby wouldn’t notice-

“Aww, they're all corgi’s!”

‘Curses!’ Weiss thought with a frown, berating herself for choosing to wash these particular clothes.

“You know, my dad breeds Corgis. Not purebred, he loves breeding them with other dogs like Dobermans!” Ruby quickly brought out her phone, showing Weiss pictures of the crossbred corgi’s.

“...My god, that’s adorable,” she barely held back a squeal. Those Doberman eyebrows looked divine on a corgi.

“I know, right!” Ruby gushed, not bothering to hold back her own squeal. “My dad’s been pestering me about taking one of ‘em home, but we can’t afford the pet deposit-Ah, not that it’s over-expensive or anything! Totally get where you’re coming from-” Ruby began jabbering on and on, unaware that Weiss ignored everything after Ruby mentioning bringing home one of those cuties.

‘If Ruby brought it home I could use it as an excuse to visit Ruby, get closer, and-’ she began plotting of ways to get closer to both Ruby and the little cutie pie. She looked back up at Ruby, who had yet to cease jabbering about Weiss’s fair and competitive apartment prices.

“...I could waive the pet fee,” she finally gathered the courage to say, causing Ruby to sputter.

“W-w-wait, really-” 

“But-” she quickly cut the other girl off before she could go off on another tangent. “To make sure the cutie, I mean, the dog is suitable for the apartment complex, I’ll have to come by and check up on you-” she could go with once a week, that would be the most sensible idea. “-every day?” Sadly she had lost all sensibility. Ruby stared at her blankly for a moment, causing Weiss to become incredibly nervous. ‘Dammit, I went too far-’

“That’s great! Thanks, Weiss!” and with that she was quickly enveloped in a bear hug, the feeling of Ruby’s body, her assets, nearly caused her to faint. “You really are the best landlord, I friggin love- Weiss? You okay?!” 

Scratch that, she did indeed faint, the last thing she heard being the worried cries of Ruby and the cackles of Ruby’s oaf of a sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Corgi Doberman mixes really are adorable. I've only seen pictures online, but I want one so badly!


	3. Chapter 3

Weiss hated the weekend. It was the time of the week where she would have to put on normal clothes, a shirt, jacket, and jeans and head out to the bank to deposit the money she made off of her laundry machines. 

“Ah, if only I could have gotten those new ones that accept credit cards,” she mumbled as she made her way up the stairs and into the fifth floor. Thankfully the room she was heading towards was the first door she saw, though she really wished she could just convince the two to move down to the third floor, where her own apartment was located. Raising her hand she held it up, not even bothering to knock.

“Hey! How’s it going boss lady?!” yelled an aggravatingly optimistic and happy voice.

“Nora,” she greeted, lowering her hand. “I’m well. How are you and Ren?” She really didn’t care, the girl was far too happy for her taste. She was like Ruby but without the likability.

“Oh, we’re swell! Ren got a promotion at his job!” 

“Oh? He’s no longer a dishwasher?”

“Nope! He’s a waitress now!” It was obvious pride was swelling inside of Nora, what with that smug look on her face.

‘Calm down, Weiss. She’s not smug. She’s very nice. She’s a good person. Don’t be mean,’ she mantra’d inside of her head. Nora didn’t deserve her coldness. She didn’t deserve the unwarranted dislike. “That’s fantastic! I’m very happy for you two,” she smiled. It was an empty smile, the only things she could think of that brought out a genuine one was the thought of Ruby, Ruby’s new puppy Drei, and the thought of Yang tripping and spilling coffee on herself.

“Oho, pretty smile ya got there, boss! Something good happen?” Ah, it seems the thought of Yang burning really did bring a smile to her face.

“I’m sure Ruby told you about her new puppy, Drei?”

“Ah, the corgi Doberman mix? Yeah, he really is a cutie!” Good, the deflection worked. No need for Nora to know of her sadistic side. “Well, as much as I love bullshitting with you, Boss, I’m sure you wanna get going!” Turning away from her Nora went back inside, not bothering to shut the door.

‘Must you use such-No, Weiss. It’s fine. This isn’t Atlas,’ taking a deep breath and letting it out, she removed the temptation of scolding Nora’s language and waited patiently for the girl to return.

“Alright, I got me mallet! Let’s ride!” Nora said with a sadistic smile that could rival Weiss’s, twirling a small mallet in hand.

“I really do appreciate this, Nora. You make an excellent bodyguard.”

“And I appreciate you lowering our rent in exchange. As much as I was proud of my dishwashing hubby…” she trailed off, not really wanting to mention how it didn’t really pay the bills. “But well, doesn’t matter now! With that new promotion, we’ll have an extra fifty lien in our pockets!”

Weiss wanted to tell the girl to spend it wisely, but it wasn’t her place to say anything. That and Yang would most likely pop out of nowhere and make a terrible pun out of it, but mostly because it wasn’t her place to say anything.

“...It’s too bad you can’t find a job too,” she chose to say instead, not sure if that was the right thing to blurt out.

“I know, right? But hardly anyone’s hiring, Ruby’s a genius and even she can’t find a job!” Good, Nora didn’t feel insulted, if she did she may have used that mallet on her. “But it’s not all bad, this place is great! Cheap, and I didn’t have to sell me mallet to afford the deposit!”

‘Pretty sure you’d get jack for that thing,’ withholding that bit of info she chose instead to hum in agreement. It was nice though, despite her cold attitude most tenants seemed to like her. Now if only a certain blonde brute could pay on time then her life would be perfect.

‘...Though I guess she’s not all that bad,’ she found herself thinking reluctantly. 

“...By the way, you ask Ruby out yet?”

As much as Weiss wanted to eloquently tell Nora to shut the hell up all she could do was sputter out an indignant squeal of anger. She took it back, Yang was terrible and Weiss was going to trip her the next time they meet. Hopefully, Yang will have a hot cup of coffee on her at the time. That would make things truly perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the humor here is a bit dark, is that just me? I wanted to make ch 3 about meeting Blake since ch 1 introduces Ruby and ch 2 introduces Yang, but for some reason, I had this funny idea of Nora being Weiss's bodyguard when she goes to the bank to exchange her quarters and I just couldn't ignore it. 
> 
> Sorry Blake, you deserved ch 3. I have failed you.


	4. Chapter 4

Six months. That’s how long it’s been since she last saw a full payment from Sun and his roommates. Month after month they would pay at most a quarter of what was owed, promising next time that they’d have her money in full. That they would pay all the late fees. She poured a bit of vodka in her coffee, hoping it would help alleviate her rage.

It didn’t. If anything it enraged her more. Her apartments weren’t a charity. She had bills to pay just like anyone else, and if her tenants weren’t going to pay what they owed then she had very little choice in the matter.

With that thought in mind, she walked straight up to Sun’s room and knocked as loud as she could.

“Ah, shit. Here we go again,” she could faintly hear Neptune, Sun’s fish Faunus friend, behind the door.

“Dude, shut up! We don’t need to piss her off anymore!” 

‘Too late for that, Wukong,’ Weiss thought bitterly, though she was mildly surprised to find it was Sun who was trying to keep the peace. With how much of a troublemaker he was she expected him to laugh at his friend’s joke. “Yo, what’s up Ice Quee-I mean, Weiss!”

“Your rent is late. Again,” she sent him a withering glare, clenching the envelope in her hand and crinkling it up. She saw Neptune flinch behind Sun, who was doing a remarkable job of keeping his calm.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Scarlett got laid off at the docks, got in a fight-”

“Here,” Weiss interrupted, handing the envelope over to Sun, who for some reason lightened up.

“Oh hey! Is this a Christmas card?!” he happily took envelope in hand with a giddy grin, before it slowly turned upside down into a frown, his face growing pale, breaking out into a cold sweat.

“An eviction notice, actually,” she turned on her heel and began walking away. “Ho ho ho, Sun.”

“Wait!” Weiss paused mid-step, sighing through her nose. She turned around, knowing full well it wasn’t Sun who called out for her. It wasn’t one of his roommates. “Weiss, wait. We can work this out!” It was the nosy Faunus tenant living across from Sun.

“...Belladonna,” she glared at the girl through gritted teeth. This was another tenant who could never afford full payments, though she and her roommates weren’t nearly as bad as Sun in that regard. An aspiring author who wrote crappy isekai smut stories and posted them online whose only income came from patreons that were fooled into giving this hack of writer their hard-earned cash.

An author that, unbeknownst to her, received roughly half of her monthly income from Weiss alone, who utterly fell in love with those stories.

“Weiss, I know they’re behind on rent, but it’s Christmas time!”

“I hate Christmas,” Weiss had to end this conversation here and now. Blake does not know the power she holds over Weiss. The power of a fangirl who would do anything to make their (platonically) beloved author happy. Whilst she would give Ruby everything, she would give Blake almost anything. Especially if it put her in a good mood which would lead to her posting chapters faster on her patreon.

“It’s wintertime! They can’t afford a downpayment on another apartment! They’ll be stuck in the streets, freezing to death! What if a snowstorm happens?!”

“I’ve given them plenty of time and chances. Six months’ worth,” she did her best to send an icy glare at Blake. Like a small bird, she had to intimidate Blake to drop this subject. Any more prodding then this and her icy heart won’t be able to take it. Even if it hurt her favorite author in the world, she couldn’t allow tenants who skimped out on six months of rent to continue living under her roof-

“Yang sent me baby pictures of Ruby,” Weiss’s ears perked up at Blake’s hushed whispering. “I-I can send them to you, they’re adorable! She’s surrounded by baby corgi’s and-”

“You know my e-mail,” Weiss walked past Blake and back to Sun, snatching away the eviction notice. “...I’ll waive the late fees. If in three months’ time you still can’t manage to pay one month’s worth of rent, I’m kicking you and all your friends out of here,” the cold glare she sent Sun’s way prevented him from speaking, instead, he could only nod his head.

At least, so Weiss thought. In reality, he was just surprised she was won over by the promise of baby pictures, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Thank you, Weiss,” Blake smiled at her, which almost caused Weiss to smile back. The greatest treasure Weiss could receive would be a smile from Ruby, but the second greatest would be a smile from her favorite author.

“...I expect those pictures in HD,” she said after a pause. As much as she wanted to get close and befriend the one she considered the greatest writer of their time, she had to stay professional. She had to keep aloof. She absolutely had to-

“Oh, and by the way,” Blake leaned down, her lips brushing against Weiss’s ear. “The new chapter should be up by ten tonight.”

Her heart stopped beating. Her eyes widened to an impossible degree. Weiss had lost all feeling in her body. All she could do was stare as Blake sauntered off back to her apartment.

Minutes ticked by as Weiss felt nothing but humiliation. Soon that humiliation turned into mild embarrassment before evolving into acceptance.

“...At least now I can ask for an autograph,” she muttered, deciding to take one of Ruby’s many advice and attempting to look on the bright side. She had all of Blake’s limited-run books in her apartment, and now all of them were begging to be signed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit difficult to write. I knew what I wanted, I just had difficulty knowing how I wanted to write it. Eventually, I decided on this one. It could be better, but it's been seven months so yeah, time to accept it as is.
> 
> Now, what am I gonna do about a possible fifth chapter? Decisions decisions.


	5. Chapter 5

Mornings were always rough for Ruby. She’d wake up to Yang barging into the room, or if Yang was feeling nice she would wake up to her snores, no motivation to get out of bed. She’d still feel tired, yet was unable to fall back asleep. And so, after laying in bed doing nothing for two hours, she’d crawl out of bed and out of her and Yang’s bedroom. She’d go to the kitchen and eat some cereal, checking her scroll to see if there were any job openings, which there probably weren’t any.

After that pointless endeavor, she’d then check her e-mail to see if anyone saw her personal ad, offering to fix just about anything mechanical from toasters to washing machines. She got several inquiries, which made her smile for a moment, before seeing how each one tried to haggle her down to a quarter of the prices she already had up on her web page.

Ruby sighed, looking up at the clock hanging on the wall, frowning as she recalled what Yang told her the other night. They were late on rent and her shy landlord was going to show up today. Weiss told Yang that she’d be here first thing in the morning, but it was already almost ten o’clock.

“She’s so cute when she stutters,” Ruby sighed, wondering what slovenly, yet sexy, outfit Weiss chose to wear today. She hoped Weiss would be wearing her robes, for whatever reason Ruby was really into those.

It was then she heard a loud pounding at her door. “Open up, Yang! Rent was due last week-” Ruby had to bite back a squeal.

‘It’s so cute when she’s trying to be all tough and scary!’ With a smile, she gladly threw open the door, and just like she thought Weiss began to sputter. “Hey, Weiss! How’s it-whoa,” she couldn’t help but gasp at the sight before her. 

Just like she wanted, Weiss was in front of her with a ragged looking robe that was a size too big for her (What could she say? Petite girls were best girls), but not only that, but her shirt had an adorable corgi playing on it, which was Ruby’s favorite breed of dogs. 

“That’s such a cute shirt! Where can I get one?!” a perfect conversation starter, and if she were lucky she could use this as a chance to invite Weiss inside for a cup of coffee. However as the seconds passed by with no word from her landlord, Ruby examined Weiss, finding her face feverishly red. “...Weiss, you okay?” her concern leaked into her voice.

“...Rent please,” Weiss only whispered looking down to the ground. Ruby’s heart sank and she bit back a sigh. 

“Oh, right! Doy!” she raised her voice, hoping to not sound too disappointed. She ran back into her apartment, pretending to grab her purse despite already having it on her person. She needed to take a breath, to shake herself out of the funk that she got into. As much as she wanted to spend time with Weiss if she forced it when the girl was uncomfortable around her than all she would do was get Weiss to hate her if she didn’t already.

After quickly calming herself down she ran right back to her door, a wad of lien in her hands. “The late fee, it’s...fifty lien per week, right?” Unfortunate, that was all the money she earned last week due to people haggling down. It was also their grocery money, so now she had little choice but to accept a quarter of what she wanted from her earlier job offers.

“Don’t worry about it,” as soon as Ruby handed over the extra lien, Weiss shoved it back into her arms with a surprising amount of force. “I need to go, room needs cleaning!” and just like that Weiss fled from Ruby’s sight.

“W-wait!” Ruby leaned out her door, watching as Weiss opened her door. “Thank you!” she barely got out before the door slammed closed. “...Thank you,” she smiled, swooning at the kindness that Weiss showed to her. As cold as she always tried to appear in front of others, it was easy for Ruby to see past that cold exterior and see the warm, gentle heart that resided in Weiss’s chest.

If only she could come up with the courage to ask her out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda wanted to write the first chapter in Ruby's perspective, so I tried it out to see if anyone was interested in seeing more (possible) chapters from her perspective.
> 
> Someone commented that I could do a prequel chapter. A very neat idea, if I do decide to go that route I wonder how it is they would meet? I hate the damsel in distress idea so please don't comment I should go that route, I know people eat that shit up but yeah, hate that.

**Author's Note:**

> Let's see if I can make this drabble series work this time. This seemed like a funny idea to me, so hopefully, ya'll like it.


End file.
